The former House speaker told a room of journalists Monday morning that he won’t allow the press to pin him down on every detail of his political and personal record, saying twice that he has cast over 7,300 votes, given more than 5,000 speeches and over 10,000 interviews, produced several films and written some two dozen books.
“All of you who want to play ‘gotcha,’” Gingrich said, “I’ll go to the next question.”
Gingrich then proceeded to confirm that he is himself on Medicare, defend his involvement in a 2009 special congressional election, cite a documentary about national security he co-produced with his wife, reveal partial details of his financial history and tout his work leading the Alzheimer’s Study Group with former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey.
In effect, Gingrich claimed a blanket exemption from discussing parts of his career he doesn’t want to address – and broad license to bring up whatever he wants.
Asked to define the line between relevant information and “gotcha” questions, Gingrich said that “everything is fair” for candidates asking “to lead the American people in the most important governmental job on the planet.”
But in the event he gets asked for information he doesn’t have at his fingertips, or considers trivial, Gingrich said: “My answer in the future is going to be: That’s really interesting, and I’m going to check it out and I’ll let you know.”
At a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Gingrich repeatedly cast himself as a candidate interested in big, dramatic ideas, vowing to draw a bright, blazing contrast with President Barack Obama.
“I think I can articulate the very large differences with President Barack Obama,” he said, adding later: “I think the gap is going to be enormously wide, at least as wide as the gap between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.”
In defending the rationale for his candidacy, however, Gingrich repeatedly went small, pointing to the kinds of arcane details of his career that he dinged the press for focusing on.
Asked about his views on fighting terrorism, Gingrich recalled, “Callista and I did a movie last year … ‘America at risk,” and described at length an exchange in the film between Attorney General Eric Holder and Texas Rep. Lamar Smith.
Asked to defend his endorsement of moderate New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava in a divisive 2009 special election, Gingrich took the bait and told reporters: “I tend to support the Republican candidate, which is exactly what the tea party wanted done in [Senate races in] Delaware and Nevada.”
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